Vanya Mishra wins top awards at Miss World

India came close to winning the top award in the global beauty and intelligence sweepstakes on Saturday when Pantaloons Femina Miss India World 2012 Vanya Mishra confidently sashayed into the final seven of the Miss World pageant at Ordos.

India came close to winning the top award in the global beauty and intelligence sweepstakes on Saturday when Pantaloons Femina Miss India World 2012 Vanya Mishra confidently sashayed into the final seven of the Miss World pageant at Ordos, a mining town in China's Inner Mongolia.

She top-scored the round but in the end, Chinese entrant Wen Xia Yu walked away with the crown of the world's most beautiful woman. Wales's Sophie Moulds was first runner-up and the second runner-up position went to Jessica Kahawaty of Australia.

Mishra cut an impressive figure in a peach and black gown by designer Atsu Sehkose and clearly stood out winning two titles — the Multimedia Award that measured contestants' social networking skills and Beauty with A Purpose, an award for special dedication to a charitable project or cause.

The third-year engineering student is goodwill ambassador for a Muktangan school in Mumbai, an initiative of Paragon Charitable Trust founded by Elizabeth Mehta. Muktangan provides affordable English-medium education to over 2,400 children across seven schools. More than 350 members drawn from local communities have been trained and employed as teachers in its schools. It works in partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and NGOs across the country. A poignant presentation of her work with Muktangan brought Mishra 50 points extra, fast-tracking her into the top 15.

The multimedia award was a new component introduced in this year's contest where contestants told their story by uploading videos, images and messages. Vanya interacted with her fans closely. The 20-year-old made it to the final seven along with women from Jamaica, South Sudan, Australia, Brazil, China and Wales.

Mishra, who lost her father, an Army Major, when she was 2 years old, won hearts with her response to the question on what made her feel she could be Miss World. The Chandigarh-based woman, who always acknowledges her mother's dedication as a single parent, said, "Miss World should be someone with a kind heart and humility, who has simple values in this complex world." She also donated her eyes when she turned 18.

The striking badminton player danced to the 1981 film Umrao Jaan's song "Dil cheez kya hai" in an anarkali suit complete with jhoomars dangling from her ears. Earlier in an interview, she said she had selected the mujra for the 'dances of the world' section of the contest and was trained by the Bosco-Caesar company.

In her profile, Mishra shares her dreams of making it to Bollywood in the footsteps of her idol Aishwarya Rai who won the Miss World crown in 1994. With Mishra getting nudged out in the finals, this is the twelfth year since Priyanka Chopra's stunning win at a top global beauty contest.